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For those who aren’t up on their tradecraft, a “dead drop” is a place where spies or other clandestine-y folks drop off items for later retrieval by other agents. A “dead drop spike” is a particularly ingenious little container devised for the purpose. Basically, it’s a hollow metal spike, with a threaded watertight closure at the top. You put your top-secret microfilm or whatever inside the spike, take it to your dead drop, and stomp it into the ground with your foot. Then you cover it up with a rock or a piece of trash or whatever. The lid has a pull-loop built into it, so that when your contact comes by later to clear the drop, he or she can grab the spike by the loop and yank it out of the ground again.

It is machined from a billet of solid alloy 416 stainless steel, and has a threaded, removable top with an o-ring seal to keep the contents waterproof. When compared to the aluminum spike, this one is much harder, stronger and heavier. Although aluminum is a fine material for a dead drop spike, this demon made in solid stainless will last 4 lifetimes. Its dimensions are 3/4″ in diameter by around 6 1/2″ in length, and is painted with a black, scratch resistant finish.

I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c’t – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.